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| VST controversy |
| 30 April 2009, 13:22 |
Guys you have to check what is going on with the VST http://www.thebombsurf.com/vst/40/week-9-greg-emslie-vs-devyn-mattheys-devyn-mattheys. We know there has been some skulldugery with regards to voting in the past but our technical team have closed all the loopholes and now it is just complete views that count. This means that Greg Emslie has torn his way through to the front of the VST rankings. Either way check it out and let us know what you think.
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| Surfline Fires Lewis Samuels |
| 27 April 2009, 21:48 |
Surfline Fires controversial Power Rankings writer Lewis Samuels.
I've just discovered that Surfline have fired Lewis Samuels. Lewis was the guy who wrote the Power Rankings. Dooma turned me on to this guy last year and infact it was Lewis that inspired our BMT rankings. For those of you who never knew about the Power Rankings you can now read the 'unedited version' on his website (www.postsurf.com). This is a fascinating story. Basically what happened is that Surfline fired Samuels for his take on a trip that Billabong CEO Paul Naude did to Tavarua. Lewis in effect was saying that the story Surfline published about Paul's trip was in bad taste against the backdrop of the new 'great depression' that the US is coming to terms with. While Lewis's friends were getting layed off and losing their houses Paul was talking about how many barrels he'd had at Tavarua. Lewis wrote him off (on his own site, not surfline) and the surfline guys fired him. Mmmn. Interesting. I'd say this is Surflines loss. Surfline hired Samuels to be a candid writer on the top 44. He was and is brilliant at succinctly pointing out the flaws of our most venerated surfers and this made him dam entertaining to read. The big question was why did they fire him for writing off Paul's trip to Tavarua? industry politics and interesting times. For an interview with Lewis where he talks candidly about what happened go check out http://www.theextremescene.com/audio/march-28th-segment-2-lewis-samuels.
John
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| Voting Day surf |
| 23 April 2009, 09:46 |
Clearly, most surfers used "Voting Day" as an excuse to go surfing for most of yesterday, as every spot between my local beach and the other handful I frequent on a regular basis were packed to capacity. So I consulted the regular Oracles of Good Surf - and I'm not talking online either - for the real inside knowledge.
The call is made to venture to a spot I've never surfed before. It's a quiet little beach, seldom surfed.
We stand at the lookout point and look at the ocean - it's hard to see how big it is, but it looks beautiful: clean, perfect lines, the landbreeze fanning an offshore spray off the top of each wave, unloading across the sandbar.
So we scramble onto the beach. It's a LOT bigger than it looks from the lookout point and the sets are throwing wide, thick lips.
We paddle out - through the shorebreak, across the deep channel and then hit the bank. It's shallow. Very Shallow. I see a set coming. Head down, I pull as hard as I can. The first wave is a beast, it gets bigger and bigger and the offshore is holding it up. I scratch. I get a metallic taste in my mouth as it starts to feather and I know it's going to come down to a matter of meters where this thing unloads. Everything goes quiet. I'm not gonna make it. I take a huge breath and duckdive as deep as I can....nothing...nothing..I push the bottom of my board further down and hit the sand. A millisecond later I feel a force to violent and so heavy, it's a though a ten ton truck has landed on me. I'm not sure what happened after that - there was too much happening, a mixture of extreme pressure, darkness and violent lurching around in a briny hell.
It's so weird, but all I was thinking is "I wonder if Clayton is working on Voters Day today, so I can get this board fixed"
To my amazement, I surfaced, still clutching my board - and it was in one piece! I spun around through the hissing, bubbling whitewater, still pushing me all over the place, and faced the horizon, just in time to get another big one on the head. Repeat above scenario.
After surfacing again, I aimed my board at the horizon and paddled out as hard as I could. There was a lull and I made it out thankfully.
I surfed for about an hour and only got 2 waves - big, steep powerful round beasts landing in about 2ft of water on the sandbank, and the odd rock, poking it's jagged, leering face at you as you raced down the line looking for an exit route.
Back on the beach the boys re-assembled. We scratched our heads in dis-belief. It looked so good, but was so hard to surf. Maybe that's why this spot is seldom surfed - but one things for sure. I'm gonna be back there, all the wiser and ready to give it another go. Luckily there's plenty more public holidays over the next few weeks.
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| Exclusive Interview with Twiggy |
| 21 April 2009, 12:50 |
We caught up with Twiggy for an exclusive interview after he sobered up at the Billabong XXL Awards...read on.
Ey Twig
What can we say, but really well done!
You must be soooo stoked. You really deserve to win both of those awards.
I am very stoked, not just for myself but for South African Surfing and Cape Town as well.....thanks.
You are now a full time professional (big wave) surfer. How does it feel to be getting recognition and cash for what you love doing?
It feels great, this is my first year as a paid surfer and it seems to have started well and I'm just so grateful to Billabong, Country Feeling Surfboards and Cabrinha Kiteboarding who are supporting me to be able to live my dream right now.
What was your take on the other awards, do you agree/disagee with the judges decisions?
That's a tough one because for me as it's far more important that Dungeons, Cape Town and South Africa are winning than any of us as individuals so my bias was obviously in favour of James winning at Dungeons but I know there is a strict set of rules in place and all the waves where very close in size. The same can be said for my Biggest Wave, they where all so close it could also have gone either way.
Where are you right now and what’s your next move?
I'm coming home to support the boys at the contest in Durban this
weekend, we need more Saffas on the WCT and these contests are the main stepping stones.
I'm looking forward to seeing Wok or Dan Redman do well in this years event, they are the best guys out there when the waves are pumping these days. After that just watching the charts and holding thumbs for some big Southern Hemi swells this winter.
What do you think the effect of not having the Red Bull BWA will have on the SA Big wave surfing scene?
It will have a huge effect, not so much for us who are already established but more for the guys coming up trying to make a name for themselves and that's a shame. Red Bull was an amazing sponsor for all those years and we owe everything to Big Wave Africa.
What is the vibe like at the actual awards, are there a lot of people is it crazy or just a dignified well behaved affair?
It was pretty crazy this time, I had a bunch of South African friends sitting up front and there where a lot of Aussies there as well and we all went toe to toe at the bar afterwards, it got way out of hand.
What drives you to ride the waves you do?
I love to surf and travel and also love to surf with as few people as possible and normally when the waves are bigger there are less people and it just developed from there. I also enjoy the camaraderie that you get at spots like Dungeons and Mavericks, you meet a certain type of person at these places and for the most they are a really good bunch of people.
Could you see yourself securing a sponsorship from a more mainstream sponsor like Lopez did initially with Old Spice and Laird Hamilton did with VISA?
I would love to work for one of the more "mainstream" companies so if anyone out there wants to pay a skinny, white, surf bum with skew teeth to help sell there product they know where to find me.
How hard to you train and what does it entail?
I surf as much as possible, kiteboard whenever the winds up, play soccer with the boys and swim laps with Mogwai at the pool a few times a week when I'm at home so I've stepped up my program. I feel once you get to a certain age it becomes important to start looking after yourself, eating healthy and exercising as much as possible?
Who or what do you draw inspiration from?
Inspiration for me comes from where I go and the people I meet along the way. What we think or do is not much different from the next guy and in the surf world this is even more apparent. People who charge are much the same in many ways no matter where they come from be it Cape Town, San Fransisco, Chile or Ireland and it's great to be able to go and surf with these guys and learn from them.
You have a lot of fans amongst theBOMBsurf subscriber base, is there anything you’d like to say to them?
Yes, thank you for all the support, it's my main driving force to know that I am making people at home proud of me and there country and for me it's all about making South Africa a dominant force in Big Wave surfing so the youngsters coming through can make a living out of doing what they love to do. And please make sure you vote on Wednesday, it's important.
Shot Twig
Well done again we’ll see you in the water soon.
Thanks John and for all the support leading up to this award and more importantly when are we going to do that trip we've been talking about?
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| Be thankful you're a South African Surfer today! |
| 19 April 2009, 22:32 |
Contemplate this...Twiggy just scooped 2 Billabong XXL awards on Friday, Jordy just came 3rd at Bells and is now 3rd on the WCT rankings, We have a 6 Star Prime taking place in Durban this week, with some of the best surfers in the world attending, including Dusty Payne and Julian Wilson gracing our shores. We have some absolutely insane surf compos for our Juniors in the next coming months including the Quik King of The Groms series, Billabong Junior Series, Rip Curl Grom Search series, Oakley Pro Junior and we just had the Volcom Games.
Then outside of Surfing we have the IPL which is pouring an estimated R2Bn into our economy, our cricket team is no 1 in the ODI World rankings, we should hopefully get a Sharks Super 14 semi, and the Confederation Cup happening soon.
And then on Wednesday, those of us who are 18 and older get to go Vote for our democratically elected Government. We have one of the most progressive Constitutions in the world and our country is the business leader on our Continent.
It's an exciting time to be a surfer, a sportsman or generally just a South African living in this glorious country.
What say yee?
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| Surfers play golf to improve their ...surfing? |
| 15 April 2009, 13:47 |
So we all know how Kelly Slater plays golf to improve his concentration and as a result is a better competitive surfer, well recently I figured I’d try out this strategy and see if there was any truth to the theory. My only problem apart from having no coordination, timing, technique or skill of any kind was my wardrobe. I just don’t own any of those golfer style shirts and I hardly ever wear closed shoes. No problem I thought I’ll just play the way I’d normally go to the beach. I’m a big fan of the sleeveless wonder T and open shoes, have been for years. Better ventilation, less restriction and all round better karma. Anyway I rock up at the Umkomass golf course on Sat arvo with my mate intent on playing 9 holes and testing KS’s theory. Even if I don’t have his talent I share his hairstyle, so I thought I’m in with a shot.
My mate pays the green fees I step up to the first and hit a cracker straight down the middle of the fairway. It’s by far the best drive I’ve ever hit and If I can back it up I’ll be on the green in 2. Its a Parr 4 (I think). Anyway as I’m thinking about which club to use for my second shot and about to stride purposefully down the fairway (the way you do after you just nailed a sweet one) my reverie is burst by the resident club pro who simply cannot believe what I’m wearing on his golf course. I can see what he’s thinking. “If I’ve got to explain it to this idiot he’ll never understand.”
After a very careful and diplomatic discussion revolving around the importance of testing this theory of KS’s and assurances that in fact I was never a golfer, probably never will be one and mean no one any harm by my attire he let us continue. His parting words to me were “just try to look a bit unbalanced, like its all not there, you know what I mean? That way I can probably explain it in the clubhouse... Actually don’t worry no one will F@#ken believe you are sane dressed like that anyway, carry on.”
And so we did. We had a glorious round of golf. I don’t remember how many balls I lost or what I shot but the experience of wandering around the golf course in the late afternoon playing from shady spot to shady spot was awesome. I’d recommend it to any surfer once the onshore is up.
The next day my surfing was razor sharp. I Don’t know if it was the golf, my daily vida fix or the hot chicks on the pier that motivated me. Either way something clearly worked!
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| Easter Day sessions |
| 12 April 2009, 09:30 |
For some reason, every Easter day and Christmas day the surf fires. For the last few years myself and my crew have ALWAYS scored waves on these special days. If you were anywhere near the coastline between J-Bay or and the Cape Peninsula this last Christmas day you'll know what I mean. I remember one Easter session in particular a few years back, which to this day has been remembered as "Chocolate Barrel Easter Sunday", my crew and I paddled out at dawn at Westbrook. It had been a wet summer and the rivers had been continually pumping a muddy brown effluent into the ocean.
On this infamous day, the surf looked good. With a light offshore, spring tide and about 4-5 peaks in sets of 5 or 6 pulling through, we were so excited. We were the only guys on it that early and the paddle out to the right of the lifguard tower was suprisingly easy. But as we approched backline you could feel the juice in the swell with every push under. The tide was dropping rapidly and the swell was building. It must have been a really long swell period, because we'd sit around waiting for about 10 minutes, then we'd see these bumps on the horizon, grow and build as they marched towards us, getting bigger and bigger as they neared us. Which either sent us scratching for the horizon, or dodging the first few and trying to catch one of the last set waves. I remember scratching hard as a wide one came through, just making it under the lip and as I pushed through and surfaced, the spray literally rained down on me and I heard the roar of the wave unload a few metres behind me. Whew.
We didn't make too many take offs and the thrashings on the very very shallow bank were heavy. The upside? The ones we did make were thick, hideaous, chocolate caverns.
After a few hours of dodging wide sets, air drops, lip-axes to the head and some classic beat downs, we all ended up back on the beach, recounting the tales of the session, moment by moment.
I'm off the the beach now to test my Easter/Christmas day theory....can't wait to see if history will repeat itself.
What was your Easter day surf like? |
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| The new New Pier Locals |
| 7 April 2009, 21:23 |
Today at the New Pier was one of those days where a set of little 2-3' runners was popping up every 10 mins or so. They were well shaped, but inconsistant so when you got one you were stoked and milked every last drop out of it all the way to the beach. In the long flat spells we were sitting around talking shit, dodging the sinkers and smelling the fresh clouds of zol blowing off the pier waiting for waves - as surfers at the New Pier do. Anyway the new New Pier locals paddle out. This is a term Iain and I have given to about 15 young black street kids who have decided to make the New Pier their home. They are a bunch of ruffians to be honest. They hang around riding third hand boards smoking zol in the shade of the New Pier and surfing on and off throughout the day before retiring to the ... street now known at Mahatma Gandi ave previously Point Rd. They are a gnarly wayward bunch, but they LOVE surfing. Anyway today this kid (probably stoned) aged around 12 is singing his ass off in between waiting for waves. He is singing in Zulu and I have no idea what he's singing about, but he has this really cool deep voice and it sounds amazing. I remember a time not so long ago when it was inconceivable that you'd hear anyone speaking zulu in the lineup at New Pier, let alone singing out aloud. Today there were more black guys in the water than white guys and it was all cool. Amazing, times really have changed.
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| Win a day with Trav and a new board from Clayton |
| 7 April 2009, 08:18 |
If you haven't heard about our cool new comp, then read on....Resolution Health are putting up a cool prize - You get to spend a day surfing with Trvais Logie, where Trav will watch you surf, coach you a little and then together you will take a visit to Trav's shaper, Clayton Nienaber and Clay will custom make you a board that's perfectly suited to your style and ability.
All you need to do to enter the comp is click here
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| Blog from Reunion |
| 2 April 2009, 10:04 |
Another blog from Bay Boards shaper and North Beach local, Warren Loom: What can I say about Reunion. It’s French. In fact it’s France in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Oh yes, and it’s the Euro. Need I say more? We South Africans on our poor old battered Rand just can’t get too far on this island unless you are really packing big cash. But enough of that. The island itself is magnificent. I was fortunate enough to have landed on a weekend so had Sunday to take a gander at St Giles and St Leu, a short drive down the west coast. As the island is a very young one, the beaches still have a lot of black volcanic sand which makes it very hot to walk on. So after a quick 50m dash on the beach I hit the water at St Leu, Being very aware of looking out for Urchins I paddled out. Was it classic St Leu? Not by a long shot. Was it fun? Damn sure! A 2 to 3 foot swell with a funny offshore/cross wind and a pushing tide. There were 3 young locals in the water of maybe 11 years of age, all shouting at each other and having a ball. There boards were all yellowed from the sun and by no means in perfect nick. But it didn’t matter. They had each other and the waves. It reminded me of when I was a young grom, where every day you woke up and the only thing you thought about was which way the wind was going to blow and how many of your mates were at the beach today? I really hope my 3 year old son can grow up with the same opportunities I had of enjoying the ocean and that one day his Mom and I will see him laughing and shouting with his mates in the water. There’s nothing else quite like it. Cheers for now guys. See you all soon at the coffee shop.
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| Fisherman on the piers |
| 2 April 2009, 09:59 |
A blog by reader, Doug Brown...something really has to be done about the fishermen on the piers....if i was a tourist wanting to enjoy the piers...it would be a 2sec visit. instead its fish guts and dregs everywhere. no space for the visitor to enjoy or relax... let alone the surfers access to do "the leap" etc....just horrible mess and what can be only measured as a disgusting dirty place. what happened to a pleasant walk up the pier to enjoy watching the surfers or the wonders of the ocean....instead its blood and intestines and grumpy men, chirping obscenities and smoking zol all day long....its turning into a bit of a joke.
What do you guys and girls think?
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| New additions to the site |
| 1 April 2009, 14:58 |
All you regular visitors to theBOMBsurf.com will have noticed the new BOMBzone feature on the homepage giving you a webcam, wavewatch and windguru all in one place for your local beach. What do you guys think of this new feature? Give us some feedback on this and also have a look at the re-vamped VideoSurfTour page, if you haven't already.
As we speak, we are putting together the next issue of theBOMBsurf mag - gathering stories, images and features like crazy. There's some really cool content lined up for the next issue, so keep spreading the word and if you know anyone who isn't hooked up yet - send 'em to the subscribe page.
Keep it real.
Iain
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